High Sparrow (episode)
"High Sparrow" is the third episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones. It is the forty-third episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 26, 2015. It was written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and directed by Mark Mylod. Plot Summary In King's Landing As Cersei Lannister passes a large crowd on her way to the Great Sept of Baelor, she is increasingly annoyed as people cheer on Margaery, completely ignoring her. Tommen Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell are wed, much to the dismay of Cersei. That night, they consummate their marriage. They are elated and discuss their future together. Tommen thinks that his mother is unhappy in King's Landing. Seeing an opportunity, Margaery manipulates Tommen into thinking that as long as Cersei stays in King’s Landing, she will continue to treat him like a child, watching over him. The next morning, Tommen and Cersei are out for a walk. Tommen tells his mother that he thinks she should return to Casterly Rock if it will make her happy, since she used to talk so fondly of it, but Cersei declines. Deducing that this is Margaery’s doing, Cersei pays her a visit, to find Margaery busy gloating about her “exhausting” night with the King. Greeting her mother-in-law, Margaery now more confident than ever, subtly rubs her queenship in Cersei’s face. Seeing herself losing, Cersei walks away. In Littlefinger’s brothel, the High Septon who is busy playing with prostitutes dressed as the Seven, is attacked by the Sparrows. He is forced to walk naked through the streets, while the Sparrows proclaim him a sinner. Angered by the humiliation, he wants the small council to arrest the Sparrows and execute their leader, the High Sparrow. Although unsympathetic, Cersei decides to meet with the High Sparrow, who turns out to be a humble man serving food to the poor, barefoot. The High Sparrow makes no efforts to hide the actions of the other Sparrows. Cersei tells him that he will not be arrested or executed, but the High Septon has been imprisoned instead, which surprises the High Sparrow. Returning to the Red Keep, Cersei has Qyburn send a message to Petyr Baelish. As Qyburn writes, behind him, the body of Gregor Clegane begins shaking, but Qyburn shushes him calmly. In the North While being served lunch by Reek, Roose Bolton calls Ramsay out on his recent flaying of a Northern lord and his family on what was supposed to be a routine tax collection. Ramsay points out that he got the taxes, but Roose reminds his son, as he's had to do multiple times recently, that he needs to think about the future consequences of his actions; they don't have enough men to control the North, they are surrounded by Houses who despise them and are just looking for an excuse to rise up, and with Tywin Lannister dead, the alliance that secured them his House's protection is in tatters. Roose then declares that the best way to secure the future is for Ramsay to wed the appropriate noblewoman who can help cement their control over the North... and he's found the perfect one. Sansa Stark is horrified to see Moat Cailin. There is only one reason Baelish could be taking her there: he means to return her to Winterfell, straight into the arms of the Boltons. Littlefinger calms her down by convincing her that nobody will look for her there, and suggesting that this is her best opportunity for revenge. Sansa reluctantly agrees. At Winterfell itself, the Boltons and their households greet Sansa and Littlefinger. After a tense moment, Sansa graciously accepts Roose's welcome, putting on the armor of politeness that protected her in King's Landing. She is later shown to her old room, looking at it like it's another world. To her surprise, the servant attending her says it's good to see her back and quietly assures her that "the North remembers". Later, as Sansa explores the castle, Theon Greyjoy hides his face from her, but seems to have difficulty forcing himself not to call out to her. Elsewhere in the castle, Baelish subtly warns Ramsay against inflicting any harm on Sansa, and discusses the situation with Roose, who is suspicious of Littlefinger's motives in betraying the Lannisters. Baelish points out that Tywin is dead, Jaime is one-handed and politically useless, and Cersei is about to be forced into the background by Margaery, who is quite fond of Sansa. Bolton, nevertheless, demands to read any messages Littlefinger might send off back to the Capital. At the Wall King Stannis Baratheon tries unsuccessfully to convince the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon Snow, to accept his offer to be legitimized as a Stark. However, Jon declines Stannis's offer and reiterates that his place is with the Night's Watch. Jon also reiterates the Night's Watch's neutrality in the affairs of the Seven Kingdoms and asks Stannis when he plans to leave; Castle Black's stores are insufficient to feed the Night's Watch, Stannis's army and the wildling prisoners indefinitely. Stannis confirms that his army will leave soon enough to confront the Boltons at Winterfell before the winter snows trap them at the Wall; he also notes that he will leave the fate of the wildling prisoners in Jon's hands, stating that Jon can either execute them (as many of his fellow Sworn Brothers would likely prefer) or see if Tormund is more willing to negotiate than Mance. When Stannis suggests appointing Alliser Thorne as the new commander of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Jon retorts that "it is better to have your enemies close by than far away." As Davos Seaworth prepares to leave with his liege, he invites Jon to ponder on the second-to-last stanza on the Night's Watch oath: "I am the shield that guards the realms of men." He also assures Jon that Stannis's leadership advice is offered because the king has taken a liking to him. Later, at the mess hall, Lord Commander Jon Snow asks Sam about Maester Aemon and it is learned his health is waning and entrusts his care in Sam's hands. He begins assigning roles to members of the Watch. He assigns one black brother to oversee the digging of a new latrine pit to accommodate the wildling prisoners. Snow also shows respect to Ser Alliser Thorne by appointing him as the new First Ranger, commending his experience. Finally, Lord Commander Snow assigns Janos Slynt with the task of restoring and manning the abandoned castle Greyguard. Slynt refuses Jon not once but three times: even after being warned that he is disobeying a direct order, he flippantly tells Jon that he can take his order and shove it up his bastard's ass. Having publicly disobeyed and insulted Jon, the Lord Commander orders Janos taken outside, and calls for Olly to fetch him his sword Longclaw. Ser Alliser briefly hesitates but then moves out of the way to let Dolorous Edd and others grab Slynt, who angrily protests that he has important friends at court and dismisses the matter as merely Jon trying to scare him. Jon has Janos dragged out into the courtyard where, obedient to the laws of his father Eddard Stark - that the man who passes the sentence must swing the sword - he prepares to publicly behead him for treason. Slynt's bluster is lost, and the man who once took a baby girl from its mother's arms and killed it starts crying and begging for mercy, saying that he will do whatever Jon asks and that he is afraid. Despite Slynt's pleas, Jon executes the cowardly former Commander of the City Watch with a single blow - incidentally exacting small justice on one of the men who betrayed his own father to his death. From across the courtyard, Stannis Baratheon sees Jon behead Janos for refusing his orders, and slightly nods in approval. In the Free Cities In Braavos, Arya Stark has been put to work cleaning the main sanctuary of the House of Black and White. She watches as Jaqen H'ghar assists a supplicant in drinking from the temple's well. She protests to Jaqen that she wants to learn, but he brushes off her discontent. Later on, Arya is accosted in her room by The Waif, who repeatedly asks her who she is, hitting her when she gives the expected response of "no one." Jaqen eventually arrives and demands to know what is going on, as the Waif has overstepped her bounds. He does, however, point out that Arya cannot be no one, as she is wearing Arya Stark's clothes, is in possession of silver stolen by Arya Stark, and was about to attack the Waif using Arya Stark's sword. Realizing his point, Arya binds her old clothing to a rock and tosses it into the lagoon along with the stolen silver. She cannot bring herself to discard Needle so easily, however, and instead hides it within a sea wall nearby. Back at the House, Jaqen allows Arya to progress to an inner chamber where she is to assist the Waif in stripping and washing corpses. The Waif is silent when Arya asks what happens to the bodies after they are cleaned. Meanwhile, Tyrion Lannister and Varys finally arrive in Volantis. Sick of the carriage they've been riding in, Tyrion again dismisses the dangers and insists they leave to explore. The pair move through the Long Bridge's markets, where Varys explains the meaning of the various tattoos Volantene slaves must sport. Varys nearly loses Tyrion, but finds him observing the sermon of a Red Priestess. Tyrion claims curiosity, since Thoros of Myr was the only Red Priest in King's Landing. The Red Priestess evangelizes in High Valyrian, telling the tale of how she was once a slave herself. Like another Red Priestess, she preaches of a prophesied savior, but she speaks not of Promised Prince, only of a Dragon Queen. Tyrion's interest in the scene wanes when the Priestess halts in her sermon and stares directly into his eyes. Tyrion next leads Varys to a brothel. Catching sight of a prostitute dressed as Daenerys, Varys tells Tyrion that a woman who inspires both sermons and whores is probably worth meeting. Tyrion woos a dark-haired prostitute, but when she finally agrees to service him, he finds that he can't bring himself to patronize her. He then goes to urinate off the side of the bridge, with Varys losing sight of him. As Tyrion finishes, he is abducted by none other than a despondent Jorah Mormont, who declares that he is taking him to "the queen". Appearances :Main: High Sparrow/Appearances First *Lord Medger Cerwyn (corpse) *Lady Cerwyn (corpse) *The Waif *The High Sparrow *Red Priestess Deaths *Lord Medger Cerwyn (off-screen) *Lady Cerwyn (off-screen) *Despondent man *Lord Janos Slynt Production Cast Starring * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister * Lena Headey as Queen Cersei Lannister * Kit Harington as Lord Commander Jon Snow * Aidan Gillen as Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish * Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell * Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth * Conleth Hill as Lord Varys * Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy * Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth * Dean-Charles Chapman as King Tommen Baratheon * Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H'ghar * Michael McElhatton as Lord Roose Bolton * Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton *with Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont Guest Starring * Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle * Anton Lesser as Qyburn * Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett * Faye Marsay as The Waif * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne * Dominic Carter as Janos Slynt * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant * Eugene Simon as Ser Lancel Lannister * Brenock O'Connor as Olly * Will Tudor as Olyvar * Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell * Charlotte Hope as Myranda * Rila Fukushima as Red Priestess * Elizabeth Webster as Walda Bolton * Paul Bentley as the High Septon * Brian Fortune as Othell Yarwyck * Michael Condron as Bowen Marsh * Stella McCusker as Old woman * Mishael Lopes Cardozo as Brothel guard * David Garlick as Despondent man * Matt McArdle as TBA * Eddie Elks as TBA * Gwyneth Keyworth as Clea * Emina Muftic as TBA * Samantha Bentley as TBA * Xena Avramidis as Whore * Portia Victoria as Brothel Smith goddess * Em Scribbler as TBA * Rebecca Scott as TBA * Rosie Ruthless as TBA Cast notes * 18 of 28 cast members for the fifth season appear in this episode. * Starring cast members Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Michiel Huisman (Daario Naharis), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei) and Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell) are not credited and do not appear in this episode. * Michael McElhatton is added to the main cast with his name appearing in the opening credits, starting with this episode. He previously appeared in a recurring role in the second, third and fourth season. Notes *The episode title is a reference to the High Sparrow, a new character introduced this season. *Daenerys Targaryen and Meereen do not appear in this episode (though Tyrion and Varys do discuss her). Dorne and House Martell do not appear in this episode - nor do Jaime Lannister and Ser Bronn, currently en route to Dorne. House Greyjoy does not appear in this episode. *'Tommen's age in the TV continuity:' Tommen is actually 7 years old at the beginning of the novels, and only 9 years old at this point in the narrative, when me marries Margaery - the same age as Bran Stark. Most child characters such as Arya and Sansa were aged-up by 2 years in the TV continuity. Assuming this principle holds true for all child characters, it would make Tommen 9 years old in Season 1, making him 13 by Season 5. On the other hand, a few child characters were aged-up by more than two years. Bran himself states that he is actually 10 years old in Season 1, not 9 years old. If the TV series followed the principle that Tommen is around Bran's age, he would be around 13 to 14 in Season 5. There have even been a few instances in which a child from the books was made a young adult in the: Missandei is only 10 years old in the novels, and Podrick Payne is roughly the same age as Sansa Stark, making him only about 13 years old during the third novel (meaning he wasn't old enough to have sex with prostitutes as his TV counterpart did in Season 3). Moreover, Joffrey himself was aged-up in the TV series by 4 years, not only 2 years, to make him 16 years old in Season 1, instead of 12 years old as in the first novel (actor Jack Gleeson was actually 18 years old in Season 1; they cast an older and more experienced actor due to the narrative weight the role needed to carry). Four years have passed in-universe since Season 1, meaning Joffrey would have been around 20 years old this season. Tommen is the third of Cersei's children, meaning she had to have two nine month long pregnancies after giving birth to Joffrey - one for Myrcella, then one for Tommen. Therefore, Tommen can be physically no more than 18 years old in Season 5, without the TV series contradicting its own internal chronology. **Tommen was originally played by Callum Wharry in Seasons 1 and 2, an actor around the same age as Bran's actor, in the range of 9 to 10 years old. However, the role of Tommen was recast in Season 4 with Dean-Charles Chapman, who was about three years older than then previous actor. Chapman turned 17 during filming on Season 5, but that doesn't necessarily reflect the age of the character he is portraying (within a year or so). Therefore it appears that in the TV version, when Chapman was cast as Tommen it retconned how old the character officially is, increasing it to about 18 years old in Season 5. By placing his birth as early as physically possible, Tommen's age could indeed be increased to about 18 in Season 5 without outright contradicting the established chronology. It is to be retroactively understood that he was closer to 14 years old back in Season 1, as if the older actor Chapman had been playing him at the time (though Tommen did not appear very prominently in the first two seasons anyway - to the point that he did not have a single speaking line in Season 1). **The legal age of adulthood in Westeros is 16 - in the novels, though Samwell Tarly's comments in Season 1 implied that in the TV version it was changed to 18. Also consider that Robb Stark was around 16 years old in Season 1 (14 in the novels), but married Talisa at the end of Season 2 when he was himself also only around 17-18 (16 in the novels). In the TV version, Tommen might actually be a few months older at this point than Robb Stark was when he married Talisa. **As a result of all of this, the 9 year old Tommen in the books has not yet consummated his marriage to Margaery Tyrell - though as with when Podrick had sex in Season 3, the Tommen in the TV continuity is simply older than his book counterpart. *Now that she is Tommen's queen, Margaery has suddenly shifted to start dressing in the same style as Cersei does - apparently a non-verbal threat that she is starting to replace Cersei in every way. See "Costumes: Major Characters - Cersei Lannister" and "Costumes: Major Characters - Margaery Tyrell". *A continuity error occurs in the brothel scene: in the first shot the prostitute dressed like the Smith has the sleeves of her tunic rolled down exposing her breasts, but when the camera shifts angles, her top suddenly switches to being fully on and covering her. *At the Small Council, Pycelle briefly remarks that they shouldn't scold the High Septon for visiting a brothel, because a man's private affairs should be kept private. As seen back in Seasons 1 and 2, Pycelle himself enjoys spending time with prostitutes - despite the fact that just like a septon, as a maester he has taken a vow of celibacy. Cersei even shoots him a sidelong glance after he says this, apparently aware of his activities. **Pycelle, at least, was clever enough to have prostitutes smuggled in to him rather than actually visit the brothel and engage in potentially blasphemous pageantry. *This episode marks the first time that Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) has had a costume change since the end of Season 1. For over three seasons she has been wearing the same nondescript clothes of a commoner or pretending to be a boy. Maisie said in interviews that finally getting a costume change, and even having a big scene in which she symbolically throws her old costume away, was very cathartic. *This is the second time that the guild of assassins known as the "Faceless Men" have been mentioned on the show. They were previously mentioned in Season 2 when Jaqen H'ghar left Arya and handed her the coin. They have also been mentioned on various Viewer Guide materials. **The Faceless Men are part-assassins' guild, part-mystical religious order. They worship "The Many-Faced God" - the God of Death. It is a syncretic religion that believes that there is only one god, "Death", who has revealed Himself to different cultures using many different faces, but they are all fundamentally the same. Every major religion has some aspect that worships or venerates death: polytheistic religions have a god with dominion over death ("The Stranger" of the Seven), and monotheistic religions have a god who still has powers over death. The Faceless Men believe that all of these death-gods were just one god who revealed himself in different ways to different peoples. *This episode marks the first on-screen appearance of Volantis, making it the third of the Free Cities to appear on-screen after Pentos and Braavos. Volantis was the first of the Free Cities, founded as colonies by the Valyrian Freehold. Volantis is by far the most populous, though it also has disproportionately the largest slave population compared to any of the other Free Cities. **Volantis and Braavos are complete opposites: Volantis was the first colony built by the dragonlords of Valyria, while Braavos was actually founded by escaped slaves fleeing from the Valyrians (making it unique among the Free Cities, as the others were all Valyrian colonies). Braavos is the northernmost of the Free Cities, while Volantis is the southernmost. Braavos is a city of canals whose strength is at sea, while Volantis's vast population makes its greatest strength on land. Volantis and Braavos are bitter rivals: in the generations right after the Doom of Valyria, Volantis tried to rebuild the empire by conquering the other Free Cities in a series of conflicts known as the Century of Blood - but Volantis was eventually defeated by an alliance of the other Free Cities, and over time its position as the most powerful Free City was Braavos, although Volantis is still one of the more formidable Free Cities. **The reason that Tyrion is going to take a ship from Volantis to Meereen instead of going by land is explained more fully in the novels: the overland route is widely considered to be unsafe because it passes through the ruins of the Valyrian Peninsula, and it is little used. The "Demon Road" between the Free Cities and Slaver's Bay passes through the city Mantarys, and is considered extremely perilous (it is not specified in the novel what exactly kind of danger lurks there). Therefore most west-east travel is regularly done by ship, making a long voyage around the shattered Valyrian Peninsula - making sure to put a large distance between their sea route and the smoking ruins of Old Valyria, still burning on the horizon. Ships making the journey therefore spend a long time at sea without taking on new provisions from the coast, and because Volantis is the closest of the Free Cities to Slaver's Bay, any ships that are going to make the voyage east launch from Volantis, to make the journey as short as possible with as many provisions as they can carry. Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons that Volantis has such a large slave population - it is the main hub for slave-traders traveling west from Slaver's Bay itself, who then sell slaves in Volantis's markets to slave-masters from the other Free Cities. **The wide shots of the Long Bridge of Volantis were filmed at the famous Roman Bridge of Cordoba, Spain - which then had the multiple stories of buildings digitally added on top of the real bridge. **Talisa Maegyr was from Volantis, and back in Season 2 she mentioned that slaves in the city are given facial tattoos to indicate their assigned profession. Varys gives a quick rundown of some of the tattoos as he and Tyrion pass. *The Red Priestess of the Lord of Light that Tyrion and Varys see preaching to a crowd of slaves is wearing a necklace with an elongated hexagon decoration. This hexagon design is the motif developed for the costumes for characters from Asshai in the TV series. Melisandre and Quaithe also have clothing with this hexagon pattern, to indicate their shared origin. See "Costumes: Essos - Asshai". **While many different religions are worshiped in the Free Cities, the Lord of Light religion is by far the largest religion in Volantis. **The Red Priestess in Volantis is the first East Asian actor to appear with speaking lines in the TV series. There are people in The Known World of the novels who are ethnically East Asian in appearance, but they live in the far east of Essos, far east of Qarth and the Dothraki Sea, in the great empire of Yi Ti (the narrative's analogue to ancient China). Through the slave trade (and this priestess says she was a slave), sometimes Yi Tish slaves do end up in other lands - though this priestess may have been sent to Volantis much as Melisandre (also a former slave) was sent to Westeros. **Tyrion recalls that Thoros of Myr was the only Red Priest in King's Landing for years: he was sent as a missionary but it didn't really work out, so instead he mostly hung around King Robert's court as one of his drinking buddies and tournament companions. Thoros was introduced and last appeared back in Season 3. **Notice that when Tyrion and Varys stop to listen to the Red Priestess's sermon, Tyrion clearly understands what she is saying, and makes sarcastic commentary about her statements - indicating that Tyrion speaks High Valyrian. Similar to Latin in the real-life Middle Ages, High Valyrian is the language of a once-mighty empire, and after its fall it became the language of well-educated people across much of the world. Many well-educated lords in Westeros are given lessons in High Valyrian as they grow up, though their skill with it varies with how much they apply themselves to it (i.e. a lord like Robert Baratheon would ignore such lessons and devote more time to sparring practice). In the novels, Arya Stark was given some basic lessons in High Valyrian by Maester Luwin, though not enough to really understand it yet. Samwell Tarly knows High Valyrian reasonably well (as a boy who loved books more than fighting), but modestly says that he knows relatively little. Tyrion, however, is very intelligent, and knows High Valyrian on a near-fluent level. *Tyrion explains that "Stone Men" is what people infected with Greyscale are often called. Greyscale is the disease that Shireen Baratheon had that marred her face - though she was cured of the disease and no longer has it. *Back in Season 2, Brienne of Tarth had dismissed Jaime Lannister's statement that Renly Baratheon was homosexual as lies. In this episode, she outright states that Renly was interested in men. It isn't clear if she always knew but simply refused to admit it to Jaime back then, or if she was originally in denial but Jaime's blunt statement about it made her finally accept the truth. Either way, Brienne should have known that any fantasies she had about being with Renly were unrealistic after he married Margaery Tyrell. **The backstory that Podrick gives now about Ser Lorimer stealing a ham and sharing it with him indeed happened in the first novel, before the Battle of the Green Fork, but this was not included in Season 1 of the TV series because Podrick was not introduced until the beginning of Season 2. Therefore Podrick finally explains in this episode what he was doing "off screen" during Season 1. **Similarly, the backstory that Brienne gives in this episode about herself and how she came into Renly's service were given when she first appeared in the second novel, but were not included in Season 2 due to time constraints. **Brienne specifically says that she was her father's only "living child". In the novels, Brienne did have two younger sisters but they both died in the cradle. She also had an older brother named Galladon, but he drowned when she was eight years old, leaving her as Selwyn's only surviving child and heir. *Kit Harington (Jon Snow) explained in the In-Episode Guide that Jon's initial hesitation to behead Janos Slynt is supposed to be a direct parallel to when Qhorin wanted him to behead Ygritte back in Season 2. Jon couldn't execute Ygritte then because he felt it was dishonorable to kill an unarmed opponent in cold blood, and letting her go did not endanger the scout party (Qhorin agreed with that). Now, as a sign of Jon's growth and how he must harden himself to command, he overcomes his hesitation and is able to execute Janos. Harington also said that he based much of how he played the scene on how Richard Madden played the scene in Season 3's "Kissed by Fire" when Robb Stark executes Rickard Karstark: in both cases it was something that Jon and Robb realized they had to do to maintain control and punish subordinates who had defied them, but at the same time they were both clearly rattled by what they were doing.[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHy6Wi9N-JM ] **This is in contrast with the Lannisters and Boltons, who will have subordinates executed at slight provocation and feel no guilt about it. Contrast with how in this same episode, Ramsay flippantly punished Lord Cerwyn for refusing his orders by flaying him alive - but subsequently, Ramsay is casually feasting and shows no remorse, and is even wryly proud that his actions made the new Lord Cerwyn submit to him. **Harington said that he wasn't sure if Jon Snow was aware just how personally involved Janos Slynt was in betraying his father Eddard Stark at the end of Season 1 (though he is aware from Janos's frequent boasts that he is an ally of the Lannisters). In the novels, this scene is told from Jon's inner POV: when Jon gives Slynt the order for the first time at his quarters, he muses "There is blood between us. This man helped slay my father and did his best to have me killed as well". Jon suppresses his personal feelings, accepting the fact that when a man joins the Watch - his past deeds are erased clean, no matter what crimes he committed. Jon decides to execute Slynt not simply out of revenge but because Janos defied his orders - both in private and in public, and very obnoxiously and disrespectfully - if one man publicly refuses his orders he won't be able to command any of the others, and the punishment for treason is officially death. Even so, just before the beheading, as Janos pleads for mercy Jon in his inner thought monologue notes that it is too late for that: he could have executed him for one refusal of his orders, and Jon gave him three chances before asking for his sword - which as Jon thinks to himself, is more chances than Janos gave his father. **Harington said that he was somewhat disturbed to behead someone on-screen like this, given the current wave of violence in the Middle-east involving frequent beheadings, even though the third novel in which Jon beheads Janos was published years ago, back in 2000, and the series had already established since the first episode that beheading was a common form of execution used in Westeros. Even so, he said he thought it would have been wrong and detracted from the integrity of the drama if the episode avoided it.http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-beheading-kit-interview *Ramsay Bolton's initial scene with his father is longer in the novels and gives some added details. Notice that Ramsay is feasting on heaping platters of meat - even though other characters have been warning that "winter is coming" very soon now. In this episode itself, Jon Snow points out that the Night's Watch can't feed Stannis Baratheon's army at the Wall indefinitely without depleting their own food stores for the long winter ahead. Stannis also realizes this, and says he wants to march towards Winterfell within two weeks, to get there before winter snows trap him at the Wall. In the novels, as Ramsay makes his way back North, he stops at Barrowton and commands the local lord of House Stout (bannermen of House Dustin) to hold a feast for him. Lord Stout pleads with Ramsay that they have already slaughtered all of their livestock in anticipation of the coming winter, except for their small breeding stock: if Ramsay forces him to slaughter their remaining breeding stock, he will have no way of rebuilding his herds afterwards, meaning that a year from now he won't be able to supply himself or Ramsay with new livestock to eat. Ramsay forces him to slaughter his breeding stock anyway to provide a feast, then greedily eats it. This moment epitomizes a major point about Ramsay: he gives absolutely no thought to the future consequences of his actions, and never plans for tomorrow. Similarly, Ramsay tortured Lord Cerwyn to death for refusing him - publicly flaying him alive along with his wife and brother - relying on the short-term gain that this would terrify the other Cerwyns into submission. As Roose angrily points out, this was detrimental in the long-term, because it angered the Cerwyns against him. Ramsay also flayed his enemies alive at the Sack of Winterfell and Fall of Moat Cailin, even though they had surrendered in good faith and he had promised them safe passage - not really caring that if he breaks his word often enough, no one will ever trust him again in the future. Sansa Stark's storyline *'Littlefinger makes no attempt in the novels to make a marriage-alliance between Sansa Stark and Ramsay Bolton, this is a massive departure from the book narrative.' *In the novels, Sansa remains at Littlefinger's side in the Vale, becoming his protege of sorts as he engages in various subplots to tighten his initially weak hold over the major Vale lords. Sansa has become so hardened at this point that she is willing to stand by and do nothing even as she knows Littlefinger is plotting to kill innocent Vale lords to make way for his own allies, but she has learned to play the game of politics and that she must bide her time. Eventually, at the end of the most current novels, Littlefinger explains that his plan for Sansa is indeed to enter her into a marriage alliance - to Harrold Hardyng, the closest living relative of Sweetrobin Arryn (his first cousin once removed). Unlike the sickly runt Sweetrobin, whose presence crippled the Vale during the War of the Five Kings, "Harry the Heir" is every inch a handsome and honorable young lord and warrior. Littlefinger's plan was to trick the Starks and Lannisters into fighting each other, until both sides were either dead or nearly exhausted, while keeping the Vale itself out of the war and its armies at full strength. Littlefinger explains to Sansa that he plans to gradually poison Sweetrobin to death, at which Harry will be the new Lord of the Vale, and she will marry him. At the wedding ceremony, he plans for her to finally reveal herself as not his own bastard daughter "Alayne", but as Sansa Stark, by wearing a stunning gown emblazoned with a Stark direwolf and making an emotional plea to the honorable knights of the Vale to lead their armies to retake the North from the terrible Boltons. *The Boltons' storyline also involves a wedding: to secure their claim over the North. Tywin Lannister granted them a marriage-alliance between Ramsay Bolton and the captive Arya Stark - except that Arya was never the Lannisters' captive. Both the Lannisters and the Boltons think Arya is dead, but they plan to publicly pretend that the Lannisters captured her when Sansa was captured, and just pass off a servant girl claiming to be Arya. Brienne was even going to charge in and try to rescue Arya when she first arrived in King's Landing and found out that the girl was heading north, only for Jaime to pull her aside and explain that it can't be Arya (he met her once during the feast at Winterfell, but some girl that Tywin is passing off as her.) *In the fifth and current novel, it is revealed that "Fake Arya" is none other than Jeyne Poole - Sansa's best friend from Winterfell. Jeyne actually does exist in the TV continuity but only appeared in the feast scene at Winterfell in the first episode of the TV series. Sansa assumed Jeyne was dead after the massacre of Eddard Stark's household servants when Joffrey seized power, during which Jeyne's father Vayon Poole (Eddard's household steward) was killed (Vayon actually did appear in the TV series and had a few speaking lines before he was killed). Jeyne is the best replacement for Arya, because she grew up alongside the Stark girls and can easily pass off as one of them due to her knowledge of the castle - enough time has passed that she could plausibly be an older Arya, and when Northern lords quiz her knowledge on things like who the Starks' blacksmith was, she knows (but it takes her almost too long to remember) the answer is "Mikken" because she grew up in Winterfell alongside the Stark girls. Had anyone looked at her closely, the truth would have been immediately revealed - because Jeyne's eyes are brown, not grey. Theon wonders how can anyone miss such a conspicuous detail. He assumes that if anyone noticed that - they'd be wise enough to keep their private doubts to themselves, knowing well how the Boltons deal with their enemies. *The fifth novel not only revealed that Jeyne Poole was alive, but where she had been for the past three years. After the massacre of Eddard's household servants and Sansa's capture, the Lannisters secretly handed Jeyne Poole over to Littlefinger to keep prisoner. For no apparent reason other than abject cruelty, Littlefinger then had the eleven year old Jeyne sexually enslaved in one of his brothels. She spent the next three years being repeatedly beaten and raped (she was more valuable if her virginity was intact, but they forced her to please men with oral sex, etc.) It isn't even clear if Littlefinger ever had future plans for Jeyne, or simply did this because he could. Much later on, Jeyne arrives back in Winterfell along with Roose Bolton, where she is forced to marry Ramsay. "Reek" (the broken thing formerly known as Theon Greyjoy) is made to walk her down the aisle, to "prove" that she is the real Arya, because as a ward of the Starks he grew up alongside Eddard's children and would presumably recognize her. Reek realizes that she is actually Jeyne Poole but dares not help her - as Fake Arya she has value to the Boltons, but if she is exposed as a fraud she is useless to them and will kill her without a moment's hesitation. *Once Jeyne is married to Ramsay, her suffering truly begins. He tortures her in several violent and sadistic ways, bizarre even by his own standards. Even as the wedding guests remain in the castle, her crying and wails of terror echo through the castle halls - Ramsay simply doesn't care that the assembled lords of the North can hear what he is doing, though his indiscretion in this regard angers his father. At one point Ramsay apparently forced Reek to "warm up" Jeyne by performing oral sex on her, for his own enjoyment at their suffering (Reek complied because he knew Ramsay would severely torture both of them further if he resisted). Jeyne also heavily implied that at one point Ramsay forced her to have sex with one of his hunting dogs for his own sadistic amusement, seriously threatening to cut off her feet one at a time until she gave in. *'The general point is held in the TV version that "Littlefinger wants Sansa to enter into a marriage-alliance which will directly lead to her retaking the North from the Boltons".' The TV show didn't entirely invent this storyline whole-cloth - it drastically condensed together two subplots which were related to each other in the novels. In the book version, it was to marry the handsome heir to the Vale, to lead an army of Vale lords against the Boltons. In the TV version, this was heavily condensed so that Sansa's marriage-alliance is instead to Ramsay Bolton himself, in order to destroy the Boltons from within (much as Margaery Tyrell is doing to the Lannisters). The general point also stands that "Ramsay marries a Stark girl" to secure his hold on the North - but instead of Jeyne Poole posing as Arya as in the novels, he is actually marrying the real Stark daughter Sansa. *Littlefinger's reasoning is slightly different in the TV version: in the novels, he actually didn't know that Stannis and his remaining army were at the Wall (or thought they were nearly defeated), while in the TV version, Littlefinger is quite aware that Stannis is at the Wall, and this has altered his plans. Littlefinger goes on to explain (as revealed in previews from next episode) that he thinks that Stannis will ultimately defeat the Boltons: Stannis is one of the best military commanders in all of Westeros, and his core army might be small but if he rallies the remnants of the other Northern Houses the Boltons will be unable to hold Winterfell against all of them. However, on the off-chance that Stannis randomly dies in battle, he had to have a contingency plan. The Boltons are wary of marrying the Sansa Stark, because when Cersei realizes Sansa escaped to them she will be enraged - but Stannis's presence has made them desperate. If Littlefinger waited until after the assault on Winterfell, and if Stannis happened to die in the attempt, the Boltons wouldn't be open to making such a marriage alliance anymore. Therefore it only made sense to marry Sansa to Ramsay Bolton before Stannis arrived: she can help undermine the Boltons from within to aid Stannis, if Stannis wins (as Baelish thinks he probably will) she will be made ruler of the North (as Littlefinger's puppet, he hopes), and if Stannis dies, Ramsay will have already married Sansa, at least leaving her in a position to undermine them from within in future plots. *While this internal logic generally holds in the TV version, there are two unanswered questions: **In the novels, Stannis Baratheon hates Littlefinger, and by this point in the novels it seems probable that he would execute him if he encounters him again. Stannis and Littlefinger were both on Robert's Small Council, and a lawful man like Stannis loathed a corrupt whore-monger like Littlefinger who kept bribing all of the court officials. Stannis is no fool, and accurately deduces that Littlefinger must have played a major role in helping the Lannisters seize his throne after Robert died. In the TV version, Littlefinger might just hope that Stannis's situation is desperate enough that he cannot afford to oppose Littlefinger's rule in the Vale (given that he doesn't even have the North yet). **It isn't clear how this will fit with Sansa Stark's character arc across the entire TV series, in which she grew from an innocent girl-turned-victim, to a hardened and cunning player of the political game. If Ramsay tortures Sansa as he tortured Jeyne Poole in the novels, it would simply be reversing Sansa's entire character arc. Then again, on the few occasions when his father absolutely forbids him to harm someone (like Lady Dustin), Ramsay has been known to torture people they care about like a whipping boy, perhaps one of the servant girls at Winterfell. Sansa would then be left to stand back and not intervene as Ramsay tortures innocent people, biding her time - which is actually not that far removed from how her storyline in the most recent novel involved her standing back and doing nothing as Littlefinger had innocent people killed in order to bide her time - particularly that a key part of Littlefinger's plan is to gradually poison Sweetrobin Arryn, a young boy crippled with seizures and Sansa's own first cousin. This is therefore a drastic condensation from the novels, but there is still some chance that it may thematically remain relatively close to the general points that happened to these characters in the books. *Basically, Sansa's storyline has finally reached the long-dreaded point where it has officially surpassed the current novels: it is condensing Ramsay Bolton's subplot from the fifth and most current novel, with what Sansa's storyline was apparently going to be in the unpublished sixth novel. Therefore it is hard to judge how well Sansa's storyline is being condensed - Sansa is apparently going to return to Winterfell at some point in the sixth novel, and for all anyone knows, there might be similar dramatic moments in it such as Sansa being stunned to be standing in Winterfell again. *'The TV writers subsequently gave a lengthy interview with ''Entertainment Weekly, in which they said that they have been planning to condense the Sansa and Bolton storylines like this since back during the writing stages of Season 2.http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-sansa-ramsay-interview That was before Ramsay was even cast or mentioned by name (though his father Roose had made brief mention of sending his "bastard" to retake Winterfell from Theon). Therefore, this was not a snap decision made for Season 5: instead they had three years to devote time to thinking out how to adequately condense the two storylines together. As they explained, Sansa's storyline in the Vale from the novels removes her from interacting with the rest of the established cast (except Littlefinger) for an entire book. Additionally, the various subplots about Littlefinger consolidating his hold over Vale lords that have never appeared prominently before would have made it extremely difficult to introduce them all, and even then, Sansa's subplot in the Vale simply doesn't have that many chapters. **David Benioff: "We really wanted Sansa to play a major part this season. If we were going to stay absolutely faithful to the book, it was going to be very hard to do that. There was as subplot we loved from the books, but it used a character (Jeyne Poole) that's not in the show." **Bryan Cogman: "The seeds were planted early on in our minds. In the books, Sansa has very few chapters in the Vale once she's up there. That was not going to be an option for one of our lead characters. While this is a very bold departure, liked the power of bringing a Stark back to Winterfell and having her reunite with Theon under these circumstances...You have this storyline with Ramsay. Do you have one of your leading ladies — who is an incredibly talented actor who we've followed for five years and viewers love and adore — do it? Or do you bring in a new character to do it? To me, the question answers itself: You use the character the audience is invested in."http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-sansa-ramsay-interview *When David Benioff was asked in the Entertainment Weekly interview if it was contradictory that Littlefinger is so obsessed with Sansa, but would nonetheless hand her over to the Boltons, he pointed out that Littlefinger truly cares about no one - he has a stalker-crush on Sansa but doesn't truly "care" about her, and his obsession with power is ultimately greater than his obsession with Sansa: **Benioff: "That's the thing about Littlefinger — as much as he might care for Sansa, he cares for nothing more than power. And now he sees an opportunity to gain more power for himself."http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-sansa-ramsay-interview * Tommen and Margaery's wedding, in contrast to the three previous wedding portrayed on the show, is performed without any casualties or unpleasant scenes. In the books : See: Differences between books and TV series - Season 5#High_Sparrow * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Feast for Crows: ** Chapter 4, Brienne I: Brienne recalls that she first met and fell in love with Renly when he visited Tarth. He was the only man ever to treat her courteously. She also recalls how her father tried to arrange a marriage for her. ** Chapter 6, Arya I: Arya meets the Waif. ** Chapter 7, Cersei II: At his laboratory in the dungeons below the Red Keep, Qyburn experiments with the Mountain. ** Chapter 12, Cersei III: Cersei bitterly observes as King Tommen and Margaery Tyrell wed at the Great Sept of Baelor. At the insistence of the Tyrells, the newlyweds sleep in the same bed on their wedding night. ** Chapter 14, Brienne III: Podrick tells Brienne how he came to be Tyrion's squire: during the War of the Five Kings, Pod attached himself to the hedge knight Ser Lorimer, who stole a ham from Lord Tywin's personal stores and shared it with Pod. The knight was hanged, but he was spared due to his family's name. ** Chapter 15, Samwell II: Maester Aemon's health is deteriorating. ** Chapter 17, Cersei IV: Cersei gets rid of the High Septon. ** Chapter 20, Brienne IV: Brienne recalls how some noblemen played with her by pretending to seduce her, and mockingly dubbed her "Brienne the Beauty." ** Chapter 22, Arya II: In the House of Black and White, Arya is frustrated that she is only given menial tasks. She witnesses people entering the temple to drink from the pool and die before the statues. Her instructor chastises her for seeking to use their training for her own purposes, instead of to serve the Many-Faced God. Arya asks which of the statutes is Him, and he says all of them are. He orders her to dispose of Arya’s possessions to truly become “no one”, and in a pier she trows most of it to the water, except for Needle, which reminds her too much of home, so she hides it under a stone near the temple. The Waif is assigned to guide her. Arya asks her instructor to teach her how to become a Faceless Man. ** Chapter 24, Cersei V: After their wedding, Margaery manipulates Tommen to resist Cersei's commands, angering Cersei. A prominent septon is followed by the Sparrows to a brothel, dragged naked into the street and shamed. ** Chapter 28, Cersei VI: Cersei meets the High Sparrow. ** Chapter 41, Alayne II: Littlefinger arranges a marriage for Sansa with the unlikely heir of a Lord and Warden. Petyr's plan is for the Vale to rally for Sansa after her marriage and help her win Winterfell back. * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Dance with Dragons: ** Chapter 3, Jon I: After being chosen Lord Commander, Jon Snow definitively refuses Stannis's offer to be legitimized and become Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. ** Chapter 7, Jon II: In order to get rid of him, Jon gives Lord Janos Slynt the command of Greyguard, but Slynt refuses, as it is a ruin. Jon gives Slynt one last chance, but he refuses him again and tells Jon to "stick his order up his bastard's arse." Jon instructs Edd to take Janos outside. Ser Alliser Thorne reaches for his sword hilt, but he reconsiders and steps aside to let Edd take Janos. Jon decides to behead Slynt himself, with Longclaw. With his head on the block, Slynt begs for mercy, but Jon executes him anyway. Jon meets Stannis's eyes, and the King nods in approval. ** Chapter 17, Jon IV: Jon realizes there is not enough in Castle Black to feed the Night's Watch, the wildlings, and Stannis' men through the winter. Stannis decides he will leave the wildling prisoners in Jon's care when he marches to Winterfell. ** Chapter 22, Tyrion VI: In a city under Volantene rule, a guard rubs Tyrion's head, claiming it's good luck to do so to a dwarf, to which Tyrion replies it's even better luck to suck on a dwarf's cock. Tyrion and his companion listen to a Red Priest preaching of Daenerys Targaryen, who is believed to be a prophesied savior, which reminds him of the only Red Priest he ever knew, Thoros of Myr. Tyrion convinces his companion to let him go to a brothel, where he selects a whore. Tyrion stumbles into a Westerosi man who takes him prisoner to be "delivered to the queen". ** Chapter 27, Tyrion VII: Tyrion and his companion arrive at Volantis and cross the Long Bridge, in order to look for a ship to take them to Meereen. ** Chapter 32, Reek III: Roose Bolton berates his son Ramsay for being so openly cruel, since the northmen already despise House Bolton. In order to ensure their hold over the North, Ramsay is to wed a “Stark” procured by Littlefinger. ** Chapter 37, The Prince of Winterfell: At Winterfell, Ramsay meets his intended, who Reek recognizes from Theon’s life. ** Chapter 45, The Blind Girl: Arya is given the task of disrobing and washing the bodies of those who seek death at the temple. She is curious about what the Faceless Men do with the bodies, but nobody tells her. * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of The Winds of Winter: ** Chapter unknown, Alayne I: Sansa meets her intended. Myranda is envious of Sansa, as she is in love with him. Memorable Quotes '''Brienne of Tarth: Nothing's more hateful than failing to protect the one you love. Varys: Someone who inspires priests and whores is worth taking seriously. Image Gallery Video Gallery References Category:Season 5 Category:Season 5 episodes